Access to the fuel fill cap of a motor vehicle is cosmetically and environmentally hidden by a hinged fuel door. The fuel door when closed is generally in parallel relation to a surrounding fender or other body panel, and when open is hinged at generally ninety degrees to the body panel and disposed off-set at one side of the filler cap opening in the body panel so as to provide easy and ample access to the filler cap. In order for the fuel door to be hinged with the proper movement from the closed state to the open state and then back again, a hinge is provided which is attached to a body component behind the body panel, and a hinge arm is provided to which the fuel door is attached. The hinge arm has a curvaceous shape to provide the desired generally ninety degree pivoting and off-set displacement of the fuel door, being customarily referred to as a “goose neck” hinge arm.
An innovation for fuel doors and their goose neck hinge arms that has been recently implemented in motor vehicle applications is a slidable interface between the goose neck hinge arm base and the fuel door which allows for ready replacement of the fuel door for purposes, for example, of damage repair or cosmetic customization.
FIGS. 1A and 1B depict an example of a prior art slidably interfaced fuel door and goose neck hinge arm combination 10. The goose neck hinge arm 12 is shown in the open state, wherein the fuel cap 14 is fully accessible in that the fuel door 16 is oriented at generally ninety degrees with respect to a surrounding body panel 18 and also displaced off-set to one side of the filler opening 20 by virtue of the curvaceous shape of the goose neck hinge arm 12. In this regard, the goose neck hinge arm 12 includes a goose neck hinge arm base 22. The inside surface 16a of the fuel door 16 has an opposing pair of ribs 24 which carry a plurality of alignment tabs 26 for slidingly interfacing with opposed edges 22a of the goose neck hinge arm base 22. The goose neck hinge arm base 22 has a resilient locking tab 28 which resiliently receives a locking boss 30 of the fuel door 16, wherein an interfering fit therebetween is provided when the fuel door is fully slid (along arrow Ar) into its operational position on the goose neck hinge arm base such that the fuel door is retained on the goose neck hinge arm base. As shown at FIG. 1B, a screw driver 32 (or other suitable tool) is used to lift the locking tab 28 out of interference with the locking boss 30, whereby the fuel door 16 may be slid off from the goose neck hinge arm base 22.
While the goose neck hinge arm base and fuel door combination of the prior art is an excellent innovation which has advanced the art, there remains the problem that the fuel door may be unauthorizedly slid off from its goose neck hinge arm base, which situation is most likely to happen in those applications in which the owner has installed a relatively expensive, cosmetically appealing fuel door, such as a chrome fuel door.
Accordingly, what remains needed in the art is some way to prevent unauthorized removal of a fuel door from its goose neck hinge arm base.